Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Chloe the Cute Gimpster

On Thursday, June 7th about 7:45 pm Chloe, Nathan, and the backyard all collided. Nate was going up to catch a fly ball and didn't see cute little Chloe in front of him. Chloe toppled over and next thing we know Alex is carrying crying Chloe into the house. Chloe doesn't usually cry too long or hard so when she didn't let up after a few minutes we decided something might really be wrong.

Her left arm had a curvature to it that we knew didn't look right. After calling a doctor friend we decided that we better head to the ER. Birch drove Chloe while I passed out some bedtime instructions to the kids and loaded up my bags in the car because I was heading out of town.

Chloe did great in the ER for her xrays. I had to leave before the xrays were read by the doctor to meet my sister-in-laws for Girl's Weekend in Seattle. It was really hard for me to leave my little girl not even knowing the outcome of her tests. I knew she was in excellent hands with Birch being with her all weekend...but it was still hard.

The xray showed but Birch has suspected - a greenstick fracture of the left ulna bone. Apparently a clean break is a much easier fix.

When Birch got home from the hospital this note was laying on the front porch. Nate felt really bad about his role in what had happened but Chloe hasn't once tried to beat him up with her hard, scratchy, heavy cast. Really, Chloe was never mad at Nate.

Chloe was put in a temporary cast for the weekend and scheduled for surgery Monday, June 11th. All weekend she was showered with gifts from her friends and several sweet families from church. Chloe was in HEAVEN! Sunday night I got back in town and was welcomed with a clean house and happy children, and a very early wake up time the next morning. We were especially grateful to our dear friend Brooke Cox who stepped right in while I was gone and helped shuttle kids, have Birch and the kids over for dinner, lend a cell phone to Birch for the weekend, help take another child to the doctor's office when Birch was with Chloe at another doctor's appointment, etc... It still makes me emotional knowing that when I wasn't there to assist that our friend dropped everything to be God's hands.

Monday morning at 5:30 am we arrived at the hospital for surgery. It was kind of funny because the whole time we were getting her ready (doing her hair, driving and walking into the hospital) Chloe was pretending she was asleep. I guess that was the way she choose to deal with the surgery butterflies.

I brought home her soft doggy "Lucy" from IKEA from my Girl's Trip so she was super excited to have Lucy come with her to the hospital.

She was so brave as they wheeled her off to surgery. The plan for the surgery was to "manipulate" or "reduce" the fracture meaning breaking the bone the opposite direction to help straighten the ulna bone. Our hope was that the surgeon (Dr. Greene) could reduce
the fracture from the outside, knowing that it may be necessary to use an
instrument to go inside the arm and "pull" the ulna straight again. Worst case, he may need to put a rod
through the center (lengthwise) of the ulna to keep it straight.

The surgery was quick which Birch and I knew was a good sign. Dr. Greene was able to "manipulate" or break her ulna bone using his fingers so know incisions were needed. Chloe wasn't too happy walking up out of anesthesia but was anxious to get out of the hospital and her first shaved ice of the summer.

This is the xray of the "fixed" ulna bone. It was still quick bent but Dr. Greene felt like it would be okay. We left the hospital with instructions to come back five days later on Friday for another xray to make sure her ulna bone was not moving.

On the way home from the hospital we stopped and picked up some new nail polish. We normally don't wear tank tops at our house unless we are wearing another shirt on top of it. Due to the awkwardness of Chloe's cast I told her that we would make an exception and she could wear her tank tops without another shirt. Chloe later remarked to me, "I should just break my other arm and then I could have two casts and be really modest [because the cast is so huge and covers her arm all the way to her arm pit]." What a funny girl!!!

The nurses were so cute and added all the scrub attire to Lucy during the surgery. Chloe was so excited to show all the kids when she got home.

So Friday came and the new xray showed that her ulna bone was moving and if the surgery was not again performed she would have reduced range of motion for life. So...

Monday, July 18th brought us back to surgery. This time we were able to have it done at the surgery center which should save us a few pennies (though I think we've probably met our deductible by now). The nice part was we didn't have to arrive until 6:30 am. The nurse was so cute to Chloe and brought in markers for her to draw a face on her plain mask so Chloe would recognize her in the surgery room. Such a sweet gesture!

We were a little worried that Chloe would resist the idea of another surgery but again she was so courageous and was wheeled away with a huge smile on her face. The doctors and nurses all told us that she fell asleep smiling.

Well she did initially wake up smiling but by the time they invited us back in the recovery room she wasn't too happy anymore. She was tugging at her IV and wishing that she could pull off her cast. She cheered up a bit for her bright red popsicle. It was a rough for a bit.

The new xrays showed a "straighter" ulna bone which was much more acceptable in Dr. Greene's eyes.

If I remember right this is showing the radial head (where the bones meet together at the elbow). I guess this looks good too.

This past Friday I took Chloe back to the orthopedic office and the new xrays show a "blush of healing" which is a good thing; everything is still in alignment. Her new cast actually has a funky divet on the underneath side of the cast by her elbow where the Doctor pushed his thumb into the cast making sure that the bones would have a place to move. We will go back this coming Wednesday to be re-xrayed and then go from there. It was a bummer to drop out of our swim lessons and gymnastics but we're hoping to get some water activities in the later part of the summer.

Not only has Chloe been brave but she also have relished all the attention and goodies that this cast has brought her. She was a sweet little friend that was so worried about her breaking her "eating arm" and not being able to eat anymore. When I told Chloe about her friend Emmiline's concern she said, "No, it wasn't my eating arm, it was my drinking arm." So cute!

So thankful for medical insurance, good doctors, a husband that is so knowledgeable about the body, a brave girl that loves to socialize, and a hopeful future of no residual problems.